Announced during the Google I / O in May, Android App Bundle is the "new" recommended format for developers to distribute their applications on Google Play. It allows to reduce its size with an optimization for a large panel of available Android devices and on-demand features.
Google explains that this format includes all the code and the compiled resources of the application, but defers the generation APK and the signature to Google Play. The developers " no longer have to build, sign and manage multiple APKs. "
The procedure is based on a so-called dynamic delivery with a model called Google Play Dynamic Delivery. Users only download the code and resources they need to run the application on a configuration, and thus a smaller application.
Thousands of applications would already benefit from an average size reduction of 35%. Thanks to new updates for the Android App Bundle, it's even more. Google claims that applications will be on average 8% smaller for download than before and up to 16% smaller for installation on devices running Android Marshmallow or later.
Nothing to modify on the developer side. The new gains come from the support of native uncompressed software libraries, with the consequence of eliminating the need to store several copies on the device.
At the same time, a developer will be able to upload applications of up to 500 MB without the need to use extension files (currently in test) and the size limit of Instant Apps (try an application without the install) changes to 10 MB.
